Bear Hug
Join Mrs.Lucy & Mrs.Ali on Thursday afternoons from 2:30 to 3:00 PM for our group called "Bear Hug" where we will be talking about dealing with the challenges of life during the Coronavirus pandemic, and understanding our big emotions.
If you are unable to join, you can still do the activity on your own time! Below you will find links from our group discussion for each week.
March 4th
Optimism is a word that means when we are faced with a difficult or disappointing situation, we can look for the positive instead of focusing on the negative. This read aloud, "A Little Spot of Optimism" by Diane Alber, helps explain what it means to "look on the bright side" and work on shifting our negative thinking to noticing the positives around us. This is also called a growth mindset: being able to change your thinking to recognize the ways in which you are constantly learning and growing! Below you will find some examples for changing your negative thoughts to positive thoughts, and an explanation of a journaling activity you can do at home each day to help cultivate gratitude and change your mindset to help you notice the positives around you.
Have you ever found yourself only noticing the things you don't like or the things that are hard around you? Do you have a hard time noticing positives, or the "silver linings" that are still around us even while we go through hard things? Here is a journaling activity you can do each day to help you cultivate gratitude - which is another way to say thankfulness or finding the positives! Each day, write down 3 things that make you happy that day, or things you are thankful for. This is called your "Happy 3". You can write more if you want to, but if you are having a hard time noticing the positives, start with noticing 3 things each day that make you happy. These can be big or small:
When my favorite shirt is fresh out of the dryer and it's soft and smells good
I shared my dessert with my little sister and that made her smile
The sun came out today and it felt warm on my skin
As you write each day, go back through your journal and notice the positive things that caught your eye each day. The more you write, the more you will find your mindset will be looking for the positives each and every day!
February 25th
This read aloud is "A Little Peaceful Spot" by Diane Alber and helps us remember that we can always find our peaceful spot and help bring it back to the surface when our other feelings get too big. What kind of things help you find your peaceful spot? Do you like to listen to calming music? Do you like to draw a happy place or memory?
February 11th
We listened to "A Little Spot of Anger" by Diane Alber and talked about how anger is a normal feeling, but can become a problem when it gets too big! Just as we learned with the other "little spots", there is a way that we can calm our angry spot when it starts getting too big. Listen to the story read by Lynn and talk to a grown up in your home about when you can start to feel your anger spot get too big, and think of ideas that can help you work through it together.
February 4th
We listened to the read aloud "A Little Spot of Anxiety" by Diane Alber and learned about how to calm our worries. Do you have worries? Do you sometimes find it hard to think about things other than what is worrying you? This story will give you tools to help you work through those worries to find your calm spot!
January 28th
We watched the read aloud of "A Little Spot of Sadness" by Diane Alber and learned about the ways we can see the spots of sadness that show up in our lives, as well as how we can help find our peaceful spot when we are feeling down. Watch this video and see if you can recognize where you have sadness spots in your life, and see what peaceful spot strategies you can try!
Here is a great breathing activity you can do when you feel your sadness spot welling up inside of you.
January 21st
This week we listened to the Read Aloud of the book "A Terrible Thing Happened" by Margaret A. Holmes. Sherman saw a terrible thing happened that was giving him bad dreams, stomachaches, and lose his temper with people around him. While Sherman saw something terrible that was making him feel this way, we are all living through something terrible with the Coronavirus pandemic that may make you feel the same way Sherman did. Listen to find out what Sherman did that helped him feel better!
Draw a picture of the terrible thing that you are feeling. Maybe it's the Coronavirus pandemic, maybe it's bad dreams. Maybe you are lonely and missing your friends and loved ones, or maybe you have lost some special to you. Draw your terrible thing and tell a grown up in your home about what you drew.
After you draw your terrible thing, draw a special place that makes you feel happy: this could be your quiet, safe place, maybe the beach, or maybe your special place is with the people you love the most. Hang this drawing up in a place where you can see it often and think of this special place when you are feeling down.
January 14th
This week we listened to the Read Aloud of the book "A Feel Better Book for Little Worriers" by Holly Brochmann. You can watch the video here, and hear from Leah about how to make a Feel Better box like the one shown below.
You can make your own Feel Better Box at home with whatever you have around you! An empty shoe box, kleenex box, or whatever else you can find. Place things in your Feel Better Box that can help you when you are worried, anxious, or any other big feelings you want to work through. This can be: a squishy, a picture of something or someone special, some crayons & paper to draw. Ask a grown up in your home to help you brainstorm what you would like to put in your Feel Better Box.
